Discussion Topic

NOICE !!!!! :-D ( attempt by a 54 year old mother of two to sound coolio )

Love the pix.

Hey Mike, whuttiz that new housing(??) development in the pic there above? It looks like a cutblock north of Valleycliffe. What are the impacts on the Bluffs ?

Here in Vangcouver it's "hot" ( My husband says we all need to go to Atlanta, GA). Khatsalano Days so W4th Ave was closed between Burrard & Macdonald as hipsters, the tattooed, people pushing bikes, people with 3 dogs on leashes, families and old couples ( ;-D ) waddled amongst the hawkers, the painted, the goofy, the stores and the unmedicated.

Even hotter down here a couple of hundred km south. And we've got the same crazy "This Days" and "That Daze" all over the city, too. Going out and about unmedicated into those scenes, in this weather is crazy.

And I don't know what you're seeing from Vancouver or Squamish, but the supermoon just rose over the forest east of our house. Wouldn't that be something to see while hanging in a ledge way up on the wall.

Too bad Fish Boy is on the wrong side of the Chief to see it. Sounds like he's medicated just right to appreciate it.

Andy - Fer a cloak of invisibility on CowFeild plateau you have two options - one, Vuarnets & a 1980s taslan-coated Patagonia fleece coat and jeans so ya fit into the "West Vancouver White Person From The 1980s" OR borrow a large-ish kid and sidewalk-snowplow style stroller and go as "The Older Dad" . Ignore comments of "Are you her grampa?"

Snicker.

And Mike !?!? WTF ?!!?!?

But I remember being chased outta my sleepin' bag at Squish at dawn's early light when it was hot like this. Brohm Lake this afternoon early :-D

A few years ago, on a blistering hot August afternoon, after climbing in the shade at Up Among Fhe Firs, Eric Neumann and I decided that since we were climbing pretty well, we should go over to the Malemute and jump on Clean Crack. The friends we were climbing with looked at us like we had lost our minds, but we had no doubts at all.

I don't think either of us got more than ten feet off the ground. Zero friction on the face, and hands so sweaty that no amount of chalk could help.

And I pulled the same stupid trick on Borderline. We finished cleaning the second pitch early one gorgeous summer afternoon just as the sun hit the wall. So, hanging out at the belay at the top of the first pitch we broke three straws off one of our cleaning whisks, and drew to see who would have the honor of trying for the first ascent. I won, and started racking up. Eric and Susan tried to convince me to wait for the next morning, but I was stoked and...

...and it was searing hot, no friction, sweaty hands, and I repeatedly greased off up in the 11c part, tearing up my finger and smashing an elbow before I finally gave up.

Forecast is for close to 35C (95F) at Index today. Should make for fun climbing -- I'm glad I'm working this weekend.

Hey Tami! Sorry i didn't answer your question yesterday.. I was a bit out of it at the time... Lol I believe they are calling it "Crumpit Woods" just like the crags behind it. Not sure if there will be any access issues..

As for your other question........ Here we go.

I climbed with a legend yesterday. An inspiration really.

Wayne W has had paralytic polio since he was 9 years old. He's also destroyed his right leg in a catastrophic motorcycle accident among many other mishaps in his life. The fact that he still wants to climb despite all the difficulty he faces is simply amazing.

Heather and Wayne in the parking lot. Note Wayne's protection on his emaciated right leg, and the braces on his wrists.

I chose rock on because it was the steepest apron route I could climb and I've always wanted to link it with the buttress.

Wayne's static line just made it to the anchors in the 10a. He said it was the shortest tail he's ever started jugging on.

Wayne pulling onto the top of the Apron.

Hiking up the slabs at the top of the Apron.
Wayne's like me. Climbing is his strong suit..

My walking is getting a lot better though..

Wayne jugging the first pitch of the buttress.

This was taken from the awesome ledge below the headwall

Wayne jugging the headwall

When we topped out things turned epic. Wayne was done. He had only brought 1 litre of water and it just wasn't cutting it.

Heather had called a friend who had agreed to bring us some water, and had left it at the top of the south peak. We were all parched and heather and i had brought 3 litres each but i sat on my camelback hose and lost at least half a litre.

Wayne rested for a bit while i pushed his static line up the slabs above the buttress. I didn't want to make him scramble those last couple moves especially in his condition.

Heather went ahead to get the water while Wayne and I hiked very slowly. She had only done the buttress once though, and they did the south peak scramble so she wasn't familiar with the descent and ran into a dead end, so came back.

I volunteered to run up and get the water, and ditched my gear at a point were the trail led back to the main 1st peak trail and i thought they would come across it.

I ran up to the peak and witnessed the supermoon in it's full glory. Unfortunately my camera was in the bag i was carrying for wayne with the rest of my stuff. I wasn't much in the mood for taking pics at that point anyways.

I found the water in a divot beside some people who were biving up there for the night, and thanked them for not drinking it.. Lol

I ran back down to Wayne and Heather. I found Heather lost on the slabs still with Wayne lying not far behind her.

I gave them both some water, and Wayne sipped at it gently since his stomach had already failed to contain it's charge.

It didn't help. He started puking up more bile. I rested with him for awhile, when he told me i should just go ahead and go get my truck from the apron parking lot, and some food and electrolytes for them to imbibe when they got to the bottom. I agreed, probably because i was so damn eager to get off the cliff. I left him with Heather and took as much gear as i could handle.

I made my way down the trail, and was surprised how much i was sweating considering how late it was. I had no idea of the time, but knew it was well after midnight.

I stopped quickly at the river spot to quickly fill my bottle which had gone dry again long ago. I didn't linger there too long and made my way down with a sense of purpose, somehow thinking i might not make it back to the parking lot before they got down.

When i got to the parking lot, there were two climbers there eating dinner. I had checked the time on the payphone and it said 2:30am but i just couldn't believe it, so i asked them for the time.

They told me 2:30 and then asked me about my day. After i told them what we were up to, they asked if my truck was in the apron lot, and i said yes. Then he asks "do you want a ride down there??" To which i replied, "HELL YES!!!!!" They gave me some food too and it was more than welcome.

After i went and ran errands i came back to the parking lot and there was no sign of them. I sat around in my truck until the leg cramps started again at which point i laid in the bed of my truck and got eaten alive by fricking mossi's.

Around 5am i started to get pretty darn worried. After some food and 2 liters of gatorade i started to feel a bit better. I decided to hike back up as far as i could physically make it with gatorade and food in tow. I made it to the top of the stone steps by the creek fall pool before I had enough. I sat on the stairs waiting until my ass hurt so bad i couldn't take it anymore and i left the goodies in the middle of top stair and went back down.

I went back to the truck and seriously started to think about calling search and rescue. I just didn't know how bad wayne was, or if something had happened to either one of them?

By 6:30 it had been four hours and a half hours since i'd seen them last. I called sar. I hated to do it, but better safe than sorry right? I was on the phone with dispatch still when Heather showed up.

She said Wayne was fine just really tired and he was still making his way down slowly. She found the gatorades and sent one up with the food for wayne with another hiker who was passing at a fortuitous moment.

Finally at about 8 Heather and I had gathered enough energy for another push we got to the base of the stairs, and there he was. Looking refreshed actually.. ;)

All's well that ends well i guess. In retrospect we probably should have just bivied right at the top of the buttress and Heather and i could have let Wayne rest while we went up the fast scramble to retrieve the water.....